Canada’s Abel and Ware win diving bronze at FINA world championships
Canada’s Abel and Ware win diving bronze at FINA world championships
BARCELONA – First-year partners Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que., and Pamela Ware of Beloeil, Que., made a spectacular comeback to win the bronze medal in the women’s three-metre synchro diving event on Saturday at the FINA World Aquatic Championships.
Wu Minxia and her new partner Shi Tingmao of China took the gold with 338.40 points, Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape of Italy were second at 307.80 and Abel and Ware followed at 292.08. Minxia has been on the winning three-metre synchro team at the past three Olympics and six of the last seven world championships.
Abel is a two-time Olympian who teamed with Emilie Heymans the last two seasons earning bronze at the 2012 Olympics and silver at the last worlds in 2011 in Shanghai. This year, Abel and Ware have enjoyed success together winning three international medals and two Canadian titles.
On Saturday, the pair had a rough start and were in 10th place with two dives remaining. However they climbed to sixth in the fourth round and third after their fifth and final twisting dive earned them a string of 7.5’s and 8.0’s.
"I don’t think we have come close yet to reaching our full potential," said Abel, 21. "I think we showed today how strong we are mentally by never giving up. We have a similar style and show a lot of height and power on our dives. I’m excited about the future."
Ware said the early rounds just fired her up.
"I was pretty angry going into that fourth dive," said the 20-year-old. "I was so pleased we got it in and then we sealed it with a great last dive."
In the men’s one-metre preliminaries, François Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., placed 27th. Only the top-12 advance to Monday’s final.
"My focus here is the three-metre so I’m not going to worry about the result too much," said Imbeau-Dulac, 13th on three-metre at the London Olympics. "Certainly a higher placing would have given me some extra confidence but on the bright side I’ll have more time to prepare for the three-metre."
Competition continues Sunday with the preliminaries and final on men’s 10-metre synchro and the women’s one-metre preliminaries.
Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2qhkct2zi70zb90/aXe629QlWJ
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For more information:
Jeff Feeney
Diving Plongeon Canada
C: +34 65 161 2740 (iPhone)
Twitter: @jjfeens
Skype: DPCFeeney
